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Wildfang Founder Emma Mcilroy Details Motivation Behind Her Brand

Red Bull has focused its lens on Wildfang founder and CEO Emma Mcilroy for its latest Mavens episode, an ongoing series dedicated to looking at female creatives.

Born in Northern Ireland and now based in Portland, Mcilroy started up clothing brand and online retailer Wildfang in 2014 to create a retail outlet for women seeking a welcoming place to buy gender neutral garments. On its website, the brand description reads, “Wildfang is not a brand. We are a band of thieves. Modern-day, female Robin Hoods, raiding men’s closets….”

In the video, Mcilroy reflects on the challenge of having to hide one’s identity, a view point that motivated the start up of Wildfang. “What a shitty feeling when you can’t be yourself. When you can’t self express, when you can’t tell who you are comfortably, it sucks,” said Mcilroy.

As part of the series, Mcilroy provided Red Bull with three pieces of advice. Check out one item below and read more at Red Bull.

In speaking on staying open to idea, Mcilroy writes, “It’s easy to shut ideas down and criticize others, or even yourself. It’s easy to break things down – it’s so much harder to build things up. Some of our best ideas have come from either failures or unlikely sources, so I try to remain open to possibility. It’s a mental skill for sure. If you can be a ‘yeah, maybe’ person you’ll be someone others want to follow and you’ll . Remember opportunity often comes from the unexpected.”